Between
by junebug18
Summary: An in between story that accompanies Keeper. What happened in some of that almost eighteen year long gap? Veronica and Logan try to learn to deal with their new lives...assuming their old ones will let them.
1. two am disapearing act

-_Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Veronica Mars or I'd have much better things to do than to sit here and write this story._

_Author's Note: This story is set in between chapters twelve and thirteen of my last fic, Keeper. If you haven't read that, this story shouldn't make any sense to you at all. Read Keeper first. If you don't want to know what happens eventually in this fic, don't read the last chapter of the other one until you're done with this one. _

Veronica hugged Logan with one arm, leaving the other on her still-flat belly. He hugged her back loosely, thinking of the numerous ways he'd nearly screwed everything up. He wondered about what had made her forgive his multitude of sins. And about what force had put her back into his arms. And about what had made her not only take him back, but accept both their child and his proposal without a second thought.

He knew he didn't deserve her. What could he really have done to make him that deserving? Whatever the answer, he knew that for the rest of his life, he would be a happy man as long as he had the tiny blonde currently in his arms.

He remembered how he'd proposed to her when she was still in the hospital and how she didn't even seem like she was surprised that he was asking her. It hadn't been romantic, but at that point, it really wasn't supposed to be. He'd just needed to get the message across and the job done. He knew that she'd anticipated the question. But, he realized that, expected or not, the proposal had caught her off guard. She had probably been expecting something grand and dramatic. Something more, well, more Logan. Instead, he'd just blurted it out:

_"So, are you going to marry me when they let you of here?"_ _Logan honestly wasn't sure what her answer would be. They were in love with one another. Check. She was carrying his child. Check. But this was Veronica. And with Veronica, all bets were off. _

_He held his breath while he waited. She still hadn't answered and he realized that he was squeezing her hand. He couldn't take it anymore. He did the only thing he could think of, the only thing that always worked between them. He leaned down to kiss her. _

_He hadn't realized that she hadn't gotten the chance to brush her teeth and her breath about made him want to vomit. But he'd have done it again. He'd do it again even if it _did_ make him vomit. He just wanted to be close to her. He loved her so much, he was torn up on the inside that there was every possibility that she would reject him at any second and successfully shatter his world. He was terrified of losing her. _

His head snapped back into the present and to the blonde still in his arms. She'd said yes. When they drew apart, Veronica looked up at him. Logan knew her well enough to know that she was wondering what he was thinking about. She looked as if she were trying to look straight through him.   
He watched her as she looked through the pictures again. She looked so pretty, still in her simple white wedding gown. Logan smiled. He'd have to remedy that. He took the pictures from her and sat them down on the dresser and backed her slowly to the edge of their marriage bed.

* * *

Three weeks later, Veronica laid in the apartment that she shared with her husband. Sprawled on the bed, she flipped unhappily through television channels with the remote. That annoying doctor had put her on bed rest again. This time it was until "further assessment" of her "condition" could be made. She punished the buttons on the remote for the doctor's inane orders over her "condition."

She was alone because Logan was at a class. She had to keep up with all of hers via the Internet since there was no way she could get to campus. Her father had been checking in on her every day either in person or on the phone. Wallace almost always came over for a visit after he was done with classes and practice to try to keep her entertained. She wasn't quite sure how to describe it, but she was beginning to actually feel pregnant.   
"Honey, I'm home!" Logan called from the living room. He ambled into the bedroom and clicked off the lights before joining her in bed. Veronica didn't notice his blackened eye until he was close to her. If he had really thought that turning off some lights would keep Veronica from figuring out that he'd been in a fight, than he must have had a few blows to the head that were harder than he'd realized.   
"Who'd you get into the fight with, Logan?"

"Weevil," he answered with a chuckle. "He just heard the news about everything going on between us and I guess he didn't take it well. I think that he's got a crush on you." Veronica was relieved that he hadn't tried to lie or avoid the question.   
"Oh yeah," Veronica tossed back sweetly, "Haven't you figured out our secret affair yet? I'm just waiting for him to pull up any second on his motorcycle so that I can ride away with him into the sunset." No sooner had she said it when she noticed Logan's expression cloud over. She instantly regretted the tease because Lilly really had an affair with Weevil.

It was no secret that both of them had been emotionally put through the wringer. Unfortunately, both of them were still having to make up for things done to the other. With her it was Lianne, Duncan, and the rape. With him it Lilly and Aaron. Veronica knew she had just broken an unspoken rule between them. Logan remained quiet as he turned away from her.

"Logan, you should clean that up before you go to sleep." She started to get up to get the things needed from the bathroom to clean his eye, but he jerked back around and stopped her.

"You're not supposed to get up, Veronica!" He jumped up and went to get the things himself, bringing them back to the bedroom.

She spilled some hydrogen peroxide over a shallow cut on his cheek smoothed antibiotic cream over it carefully. As she smoothed away a bit of excess, she decided to break to silence and apologize.

"I'm sorry, Logan. I... I didn't mean-"

He said nothing but shrugged it off, forgiving her but remaining hurt. They laid down beside each other and eventually fell asleep. It was two am when the sound of someone knocking at the door woke them.

Logan reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and went to the door. Veronica couldn't hear enough to know who it was, but she could tell that it was a woman's voice. She heard the door swing closed, but Logan never returned. He was still gone when Veronica awoke the following morning.

When she reached for her phone to call him, she saw that it had fallen from night stand and was now all the way across the room near door.


	2. Throwing Duncan in the mix

Veronica stayed in bed for several long minutes, hoping that she was mistaken and that Logan would walk back in from the other room any minute. When he didn't reappear, she decided she had no choice but to get up and retrieve her cell phone to call him.

By the time she had made it to the door where her phone lay, the room was spinning and she felt decidedly light-headed. She sank down to the floor and dialed her husband. His phone trilled in her ear ... and from inside his bag still laying where he had tossed it the night before.

_So, he defiantly didn't come back last night. If he had and left again, he would have taken his phone with him. _

Just in case, she called out his name a couple of times. She received no answer. She was alone.

She thought about calling her father but decided quickly against it as she divined it would only make her father resent Logan even more. _If that was even possible._ Mac and Wallace would be in class so she decided against calling them as well. As she wasn't in any imminent danger, she decided to finish up a bit of her own coursework on the Internet.

About two hours into it, she finally gave up because she couldn't concentrate. Something about Logan's absence gnawed at her mind. The whole thing just didn't feel right. She pulled out her cell phone and called Weevil. He picked up after three rings.

"Yeah?"

"Weevil?"

"Oh hey, Veronica. What's up? Need to borrow my maintenance keys again?"

"No. Did you see Logan yesterday?"

"Just when he was going into a classroom, but I didn't talk to him. Why?"

"So, you didn't get into a fight with him last night?"

"Woah, you know I don't like Logan, but I haven't been in the mood to beat on him lately. You still going out with that sucker?"

"You could say that. Have you seen him around campus today?"

"No. You want me to check for you?"

"Yeah he should be in classroom 1476 in the main hall."

Weevil took a few minutes to get to the door of that class and looked in, scanning the faces in the room.

"He ain't in there. You know, I don't know why you're with that loser. After the way he treated Lilly-" he trailed off meaningfully before continuing, "You could do better."

Veronica wasn't sure what to say. She really didn't want to go through this with him right now.

"Thanks for your help, Weevil. I've got to go." She flipped the phone shut and drew in a big breath.

_Okay, so my husband is missing, and was possibly abducted last night. I can't exactly move. Why am I talking to myself like this? This bed rest is making me go crazy. _

She heard footfalls coming through the living room towards the bedroom. The door opened to reveal Keith.

"Why is your door standing wide open?" he demanded immediately.

Veronica looked up at him, imploring him with her eyes to sit down and let her tell him everything and have him fix it. He helped her back into bed and sat with her, waiting for an answer.

When she'd told him all she knew, he stood. "I'll go down to the office and see if I can view the security tapes from the hallway last night."

Keith sat down with the apartment manager, watching the tape over and over searching for clues he might have missed. He was infuriated with Logan. How was he supposed to tell his little girl, lying in bed sick and pregnant, that her husband left her willingly in the middle of the night with some blonde woman that looked to Keith's trained eye like a hooker? At least, that's what he gathered from the vague image of the scene he could make out on the low-quality black and white video tape.

He decided not to say anything until he knew more. He went back up to Veronica's hall and questioned what few neighbors were home. None had seen anything unusual other than Veronica and Logan's door standing open. Keith returned to the apartment to search Logan's bag. He extracted the cell phone and recorded the last several incoming and outgoing numbers just as a very dirty and disheveled Logan returned.

Before he even acknowledged Veronica's worry, he pulled Keith into the next room. "I need to talk to you. It's about Veronica."

Keith eyed his son-in-law. Logan had fresh stitches running down the side of his neck, resulting from an obvious visit to the hospital. His mood toward the younger man turned from anger to worry. Keith listened to Logan, intrigued, and becoming more and more worried with every word he said.

Veronica's cell phone rang as she strained unsuccessfully to hear Logan's conversation with her father.

"Veronica?" came a wary voice.

"D-Duncan?" she sputtered, "You shouldn't be calling me."

"I know. But you have to help me. They took my daughter!"

"Who? Who took your daughter? Duncan, someone could trace this call and find you. Do you know how much trouble I could get in for this?"

"I didn't know what else to do. I can't go to the cops or they'll find out that I'm a fugitive that doesn't even have custody of the daughter that I'd be reporting missing."

"What kind of phone are you calling me on?"

"A pay phone. Please, Veronica! She's all I've got!"

Veronica's hand moved over her own baby still inside of her and tried to imagine what he must be feeling. At least no one could take her baby away from her yet. "Okay. I'll see what I can do. But you know it's hard to investigate something like this from the other side of the world."

"That's why I was hoping you could take a vacation and come here."

"I can't," she replied shortly.

"Why not?" He sounded like he was becoming angry with her for some reason.

"I'm pregnant, Duncan. I have to stay in bed and take care of myself."

There was a long pause on the line before Duncan asked quietly, "Logan?"

"Yeah, he- uh, we got married. I love him, Duncan."

"Just-" he let out a frustrated breath, "Please come. I'm begging you, please."

Logan and Keith entered the bedroom and Veronica accidentally flipped shut the phone, disconnecting the call.

"Why don't the two of you go on a vacation or something?" Keith suggested, seemingly out of nowhere. "You can rest just as easily on some nice, safe beach as you can here. And I'd worry less."

Her eyes moved over Logan's beat up face. Something was very wrong if her dad was suggesting that they go away somewhere when he had just lectured her yesterday about walking to the refrigerator by herself. Logan walked over to her and scooped her up, wordlessly.

"Right now?" Veronica asked, letting herself be lifted into her husband's arms. She was to confused to even begin voicing all of her questions.

"Yeah. You know it'll be fun, sweetheart. You can come over to my apartment and visit with your old man while Logan packs and I make all the arrangements."

Logan carried her from the apartment quickly as her dad surreptitiously inspected the apartment for some unseen intruder.


	3. Awkward

Logan walked through the airport, clumsily dragging their luggage behind with one hand and carrying Veronica in his free arm. She had fallen asleep while they had been standing in line twenty minutes earlier and had since stopped holding onto him. Cradling her and wheeling their luggage was quite a trick. But through what Logan assumed could only be sheer force of will, he made it with both Veronica and their bags onto the plane. She finally awoke as he placed her down into her seat next to the window.

As soon as they were seated, a little boy began kicking Logan's seat at every opportunity. Logan was too weary to even bother to turn around and glare at him. They both sat in silence for most of the plane ride, each absorbed in their own questioning yet unspoken thoughts.

Logan's late night disappearance was driving Veronica nuts. Even worse, it occurred to her that Logan knew that it was worrying her. And for him to choose to let her worry rather than explain his whereabouts assured Veronica that whatever had happened the previous night was terrible. They would not arrive to where they were "vacationing" in Australia for close to fifteen hours. That was far too long to sit and chew over all the possibilities for where, when, and why. However, even though she was furious that she was being kept in the dark, she loved him more than she could bear. Unfortunately, on the Veronica scale, mistrust outweighed love. She had seen too much. She knew too much. She didn't know how to wholly trust someone without questions or motives. To Logan, that was one of her biggest faults.

By the time they were halfway through the second in-flight movie, Veronica's head was resting on the window, deeply asleep. She had been sleeping a lot more these days, Logan noticed. He attributed it to the medication her doctor had prescribed for her. It worried him. To his knowledge, Veronica never slept peacefully. But those pills made her sleep so deeply, she hardly moved while she slept. She didn't seem anything like herself while sleeping. Peaceful, sweet, all out of fire and spite for the world. He didn't know what to do with this kind of Veronica. It seemed like she was almost dead without that fiery hurt hanging about her that had been so much of what defined her for the past few years since Lilly had been murdered and her life took a downward spiral.

While he watched her sleep, he fretted about the night before. He wasn't sure what to tell her about where he'd gone. He knew that if he didn't tell her anything, she would only get angrier at him. By the same token, telling her could hurt her more and would probably only make her do something stupid. No, he decided, it was better to just take her away and let Keith try to take care of it. It wasn't their responsibility anymore.

Veronica told him to wake her when the plane landed, should she be asleep. He nudged her until she woke. "We're here."

"O-okay." She was just barely awake and he could tell she was fighting to wake up completely instead of going back into her hibernation.

They deplaned quickly and Logan picked up their bags at the baggage claim. Luckily for him, the parents of the annoying little boy who sat behind him offered to help get them from the belt. There was no way Logan could while still carrying Veronica, as he had to do everywhere they went. _Thank God she's still skinny and petite._

"That is so sweet of you!" the boy's mother exclaimed as he pointed out to her which bags were theirs. "Is she okay, though?"

"Yeah, she just can't walk… pregnant," he explained bashfully.

"Your first?" she presumed with a knowing smile.

"Yeah. I just hope my wife can make it through this." He had no idea why he was revealing his worries about something he hadn't even discussed with Veronica about to a complete stranger.

She nodded, understanding. "Well, good luck to the two of you. She's a very pretty girl."

"Thanks." He got a handle on the bags somehow and began to walk off with them when the lady stopped him, shaking her head.

"I'll get those, sweetie. You get your wife." He let her take the bags back from him and follow behind as he took the semi-conscious Veronica to the entrance of the airport where he immediately saw a bearded man in a large hat holding a cardboard sign up with the name 'Mars' scrawled in... was that Duncan's handwriting?

The man hurried toward Logan and gathered the bags from the kind lady. He appeared a bit harried at the sight of Logan carrying Veronica. He recognized the man as soon as he had gotten close enough for Logan to see his face, but it still threw him off. Although, Veronica's request to go to Australia for their trip didn't seem like such a random choice, after all. He didn't appreciate the way Duncan stared down at Veronica's relaxed face like she was Sleeping Beauty and he somehow fancied himself her prince.

"Logan," Duncan managed by way of greeting.

Logan nodded in acknowledgment, afraid to use his name in public. Duncan led the way outside to a waiting cab. They said nothing to each other in the taxi, reserving all conversation and the inevitable questions until they had reached the house Duncan was renting and gotten inside.

"Is she okay?" came Duncan's first question as the entered the house.

"She's pregnant and been having some problems. We uh…got married, you know." He giggled, feeling the full force of a long night, the longer flight, and the strain of running into his former best friend on another continent. "She's my wife," he added as though his first mention of it wasn't enough.

Duncan swallowed hard before showing him to the guest room. He watching as Logan tucked Veronica in under the covers and gently kissed her forehead. It wasn't an easy scene for Duncan. _Boy, had Veronica moved on quick. _

"So, do you mind telling me why we're here. I'm assuming you asked her to come," Logan began as soon as he'd closed the door on his sleeping wife.

"They have my daughter."

"Who's 'they?'"

"I don't know. But she's been kidnapped. I had just buckled her into her car seat in the back of my car while I was loading some stuff into he trunk. When I went the shut the door, she was gone."

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find her, man."

His face twisted with pain and he made himself change the subject, knowing that Logan wasn't the one he needed to get the information to. "Is Veronica going to be okay?"

Logan smiled sadly. "I don't know. I hope so. The doctor keeps telling me that her body just isn't taking it well, like she can't handle it or something. She's been on bed rest off and on for weeks."

Duncan's ground his teeth in an effort to keep his comments to himself.

"Logan?" Both men turned to where they heard Veronica's questioning call.

They went back to the room Logan had put her in.

"Hey," Duncan said by way of greeting but didn't move closer to her from the door.

"How long have we been here?"

"Not long," Logan answered.

Veronica looked between Duncan and Logan as if she were a kid that got caught with her hand still stuck in the cookie jar. "I'm assuming Duncan filled you in?" she asked her husband.

Logan nodded uncomfortably. He wanted to talk to her about this very awkward situation that she had gotten him into but wouldn't in front of Duncan.

"I- I didn't know you were really sick," Duncan put in, "You shouldn't have come."

Veronica ignored his concern and asked, "Do you have any clue who took her?"

"Someone must have put this in my mailbox yesterday." He produced a note from his pocket and handed it to Veronica.

_Killers shouldn't have kids. Kids should have Christian homes._


	4. Lianne and the tape

Back in Neptune

Keith Mars sat in his car on a stakeout. He had to sip cold coffee in an effort to keep awake. He'd been sitting there for four hours waiting for his hunch to be proven correct.

Lianne showed up outside the Camelot. He watched as the woman he used to love stumbled drunkenly around in the dark with a large and nearly empty bottle of vodka in her hand. A man came out after her, laughing loudly but obviously much less drunk than she. He steered her back into the cheap motel room. Keith didn't move his camera to take any pictures. He had only came to see if any of the men she was with would fit Logan's description. The one that came out had. That was enough for Keith.

_It wasn't bad enough for her too run out on me and Veronica only to return and steal her college money. Now she to do this to Veronica, too? _

He had no idea how he ever could have loved a woman who had so little concern for her own daughter. Her _only_ daughter. What she had done to him was one thing, but he was sick of her finding ways to hurt his little girl with her reckless debauchery. It was like she couldn't care less what she did to Veronica.

He produced the papers he had brought with him and left them in front of the motel room door before driving away.

Meanwhile, in Australia

"There's a stain on this paper. Was it on there when you got it, Duncan?"

"No. I had a drink in my had when I read it and was so upset, I spilled it."

"Oh, okay. Well it's definitely a woman's handwriting. That, coupled with the fact that her note implies that she doesn't think you provide a suitable home, are both good signs."

"You think it's good that she took Lilly because she thought I was a bad parent?"

"Yes. It means that whoever the kidnapper is probably isn't planning on hurting her, just smuggling her to other people to raise. At least that means your daughter's safe."

_Whoever kidnapped Lilly knows who he is. He must have been a sitting duck. They knew he couldn't go to the police to report her missing. Why is it that I'm beginning to think Meg's parents have found Duncan? That's exactly the kind of home they wanted the baby adopted to. I want my laptop. _

Until late that night, she was doing research on exactly what the Mannings had been up to lately and the adoption agency they had wanted the baby to be placed with. _Meg had definitely been right about how scary these people are. They might not physically hurt the baby, but I wouldn't want my child growing up that way. _

Veronica called her dad. "Can you find out if the Mannings have contacted the Christian Children with Christian Homes Adoption Agency lately?"

"Sure honey. Why?"

"Would you believe that I'm laying on the beach right now and the question just popped into my head?"

"So I'll take that as an 'I don't want to know'. Anything else?"

"Yeah, where was Logan the other night?"

"It's better if you don't know but don't be mad at him, Veronica. Okay? Trust me. We're just protecting you. So, how's your vacation going?"

"Great. Um, what about the Kanes? Could you see if either of them has been in contact with the Mannings lately?"

"Sure. Can I talk to Logan for a minute?"

Veronica handed the phone over suspiciously. Logan walked out of the room and earshot with it.

Suddenly Veronica started to get very sleepy again. She fought it, but by the time Logan returned to the room, the scene had changed from her searching through her laptop for leads to her asleep, still halfway sitting up on the bed. Duncan stood awkwardly beside her, staring down at her as if in some kind of trance. Logan quickly walked in and struck up conversation with him to get him to stop. Ever since they'd arrived, Logan had wanted to pound Duncan every every time he saw him look at Veronica _that _way. But he had practiced self control and constantly reminded himself that the guy's daughter had just been kidnapped.

After Duncan had gone to sleep, Logan looked at Veronica's laptop and went through her open files.

_Parking lot security camera. Kanes. Dates don't match. Prescription. _Of course, not much of that made any sense to him.

The next day, Logan went to the security office of the store from where Lilly had been kidnapped. The manager didn't have a problem letting him watch the tapes, but Logan had to be careful to make sure the younger teenager didn't notice him making a copy of it and taking the copy with him. After all, one couldn't be around Veronica Mars as much as he was without picking up some tricks from her. The boy never even noticed. Logan didn't bother to pay much attention to the tapes as the boy played them as he knew he'd be watching it over and over and over when he got back to Duncan's.

Duncan had gone to work. He worked in an office where not too many people saw him every day. While he was gone, Logan followed Veronica's orders to search the house over for any type of medications or prescription drugs, although he didn't see why or what that had to do with anything.

After the search, he sat down on the couch to watch the tapes with Veronica. She wanted to see them before Duncan got back.

Veronica fast-forwarded the tape to the time Duncan had given her and then played it in slow motion as soon as she saw his car. He had told her that he had been leaving the beach, but it looked like he had just pulled up. He _had _just pulled up and was getting out of the car. He opened the back door and leaned in near where the baby's car seat would be and then stood and went to the back of the car. He popped the trunk open and from what the tape showed, he appeared to be unloading something. No one had been by yet. Duncan was still at the back. He stopped whatever he was doing and his head snapped up quickly for no apparent reason. He reached up and covered his face with his hands and his body shook. He ran around to the side, apparently screaming. He checked the back seat repeatedly before finally sinking to the ground and curling into a ball next to the open car door.

Veronica and Logan looked at one another.

"Veronica, no one was there. No one came near the car to take her."

She only stared blankly back at him as Duncan came in. Logan switched off the television.


	5. Blood in her hands

"I can't focus at work anymore. I'm too worried." Duncan complained as he settled down on the couch next to Veronica.

She tried very hard to keep her look even while she broached the subject of Lilly's disappearance. "I was thinking it might be a good idea to see if there were any security tapes of the parking lot you were in at the time of the kidnapping."

"I don't think there were any cameras. It was only a beach parking lot," came Duncan's quick reply.

"A beach parking lot that was right behind a hotel," she reminded him. "There should be plenty of security cameras. I'll have Logan check tomorrow. It'll probably be our lead on exactly what happened and give us a rough picture of the kidnapper."

Duncan's expression suddenly changed into one she couldn't recognize and he changed the subject. "So, do you want some dinner?"

Logan watched the exchange carefully, noting that Duncan addressed only Veronica as if he wasn't even there.

"That sounds good. I'm really craving pineapple pizza. Do they have that here?"

Duncan nodded, indicating the affirmative.

"Could you order some, Logan?" Veronica asked.

"Sure," Logan had already programmed the local pizza parlor's number into his phone and was dialing.

Duncan looked at her quizzically. "Don't you hate pineapple?"

"I do, but apparently, the baby likes it."

Duncan got up and went to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. He was obviously trying to hide it, but it didn't escape Veronica's eyes that he was taking some kind of pill.

Later that night, Veronica turned to face her husband in bed. "So if he knows no one really kidnapped Lilly in that parking lot, he should go to steal the tapes tonight or tomorrow morning. If he doesn't do that, I think it's a safe assumption that something else is going on here that I really hope isn't."

"Where do you think she is?"

"I have a hunch…but I really hope I'm wrong." Veronica looked down and then met his eyes once more before continuing, "Logan, what were you doing the other night? You have to tell me."

"I don't get why you can't just leave it alone. You know, one of these days you're really gonna get yourself hurt."

"I don't get why you can't just tell me. You know if you don't, I'll just find out on my own and then I'll be twice as mad at whatever stupid thing you've done."

"Why do you assume it's something stupid I've done?"

"Because you're you! Please, just tell me!"

Logan drew in a long breath before answering, "No."

Veronica turned away from him. "I feel weird."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. My back just hurts, is all." She pretended to fall asleep and so did he.

During the night, Logan woke up to a sound that he could have sworn was a baby's cry. It lasted only a moment before it was silenced. He carefully crept to the door that led to Duncan's room and put his ear to it.

"I don't know! Give her back to me! I want her back!"

Logan listened, both startled and fascinated. There were no other voices coming from the room and Duncan sounded like he used to when they were roommates and Logan had heard him talking in his sleep.

"I didn't do it! I didn't… I can't... I can't!" His voice drifted off as if he were getting back into deeper sleep.

The next morning Veronica was still asleep when Logan heard Duncan leaving. He followed him right to the parking lot security office where the crime had allegedly taken place. Duncan went in and Logan waited until he'd come back out holding a tape just as Veronica had predicted. Logan followed Duncan to make sure he went to work before returning to the house to tell Veronica what had developed. He expected to find her still sleeping, but was greeted with a much different scene.

Veronica was still in bed, but she was crying, in obvious pain.

"Veronica?" He couldn't hide the note of panic in his voice. "What is it?" Logan took a step closer and saw that her face was as white as the bed linens and both were smeared with blood.

Ambulances, red lights, blaring sirens. Blood. Fear that Logan had been feeling all too much lately intensified to a degree he couldn't bare. Duncan was there, acting more upset on the outside somehow than Logan, which Logan didn't appreciate. The petite blond being taken away and worked on by the paramedics during their rush to the hospital. Logan watched his normally vivacious wife in the ICU, looking reduced and wan. He had seen too much of her in the hospital lately.

"Your wife's condition is known as placental abruption. It's very rare. Right now we're terming it as a grade two, but I should prepare you, there is evidence it could be a three."

Logan was trying to keep himself together even though he was scared to death and wanted to throttle the man who was spouting medical jargon at him or burst into tears. Or both. "In English?"

The man was unperturbed by Logan's hostility as he explained. "It means that this is a very serious condition. If it is a stage two, there is a chance both your wife and baby could live, but again, I do need to prepare you, we could lose them both. Even for this condition she has lost higher than average amounts of blood and we've started her on transfusions. We're also running ultrasounds on the fetus, which is currently in some distress but alive. I'm pretty sure she'll need surgery and probably more than one." The doctor hesitated before laying staying hand on Logan's shoulder. "I'll let you know as soon as I have any further information or any changes happen, but for right now we just have to play it by ear."

"That's my wife and my… baby. Please-"

Duncan watched Logan's eyes fill with tears and hurt. Duncan prayed for himself as well as for Logan that Veronica wouldn't go the way his sister had. Why was it that every girl either of them loved had to die? Veronica was all either of them had left.

Hours passed. The doctor came out again. Logan took that as a good sign that the doctor hadn't removed his surgeon's cap.

That night, Veronica flat lined. Logan hadn't even been able to see her after the surgery. But somehow, Duncan had gotten into her room. He stood over her with a pillow in his hands.


	6. Delirium

Logan walked into Veronica's room the next morning after endless hours of studying the waiting room's artless decor. His wife was wide awake and apparently expecting him. Somehow he wasn't surprised. 

It had taken the doctors shocking her twice to get her back last night. She had been dead for a full minute and a half, according to her chart. Now, just eight hours later, she was acting as if she had checked into the hospital to have a comfortable place to lie down. The baby had also survived the ordeal, to Logan's delight.

But, he needed answers, so he skipped the preliminary fussing and asked, "Did Duncan smother you last night?"

"Wow, straight to investigative questioning. I'm starting to rub off on you." She smiled cheekily up at him.

"So?" Logan pressed, unamused by her light tone.

She shrugged and the grin slid from her face. She looked every bit as tired and overwrought as Logan felt. "I was asleep. I didn't see anything. And believe me, I wish I knew."

Logan wasn't sure whether he believed her or not. He sat down on the hospital bed and looked at her, searching for the truth on her face."Your dad called."

Her eyes flew open. "You didn't tell him, did you? About Duncan?"

"No, but it took me half an hour to convince him not to fly down here the minute after I told him about your little near death experience." He left out everything about his long conversation with her dad about Lianne and the Dumpster someone had found her in and the fact that she was in a coma she would never come out of. Or about the connection her mother had to what happened to him the other night or about all the threats he and Keith had both been getting lately. Veronica didn't need to hear about that now.

"I'll be fine." She was stubbornly acting as though nothing had happened.

"Veronica!" Logan's voice was a mix of exasperation, tension, and fear. It came out sounding a whole lot like anger. "You almost died… twice! In what alternate dimension of yours can you term that as 'fine?'" Something in him blamed her for getting sick, for scaring him, for almost leaving him. God knows if she had, he probably would have taken another trip to the Coronado Bridge to finish the job he started the night his father had been arrested. He sucked in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "You don't remember last night at all?"

Veronica could tell he was suspicious. "I remember-" she took in a deep breath before continuing, "I remember a nurse coming in and hearing a couple people talking. And then, I just remember waking up after they did that other surgery. I'm gonna have more stripes on my stomach than a zebra… which will go nicely with the stretch marks."

He leaned down and pecked her forehead with a small smile, "You still look hot."

She smiled, glowing under his quiet praise and quieted anger, even though she had no idea how his compliments could possibly be true. She wanted to see Duncan and figure this thing out, not lie in bed covered in stitches and plugged into more machines than she could count. She probably looked more like Frankenstein's monster than a "hot" wife.

Logan was still staring at her strangely as if he hadn't seen her in an age and was afraid he wouldn't see her again. His hand found hers. She looked at him carefully; his eyes were red and swollen in a way that went beyond weary. Guilt crept up on her, even though she knew that their circumstances were out of her hands.

"You really scared me," Logan finally admitted, pleading silently for her to say something or make a gesture that would let him take her away where no problems could find them.

She only smiled because she couldn't think of anything else to do. Her smile brightened as she thought of a subject to take his mind off of near-death and kidnappings. "You got a name?"

Logan eyed her, suddenly worried that the lack of oxygen to her brain had done some serious harm. "Yeah, my name's Logan,remember?"

Veronica beamed at him, all at once rueful and sweet. "No, I meant for-" she dropped her eyes to her rounded belly that was hidden beneath a gauzy hospital sheet.

Logan swallowed hard and followed her gaze. "I don't know. You're carrying the baby, I think you should at least get to name him or her after all this."

"Well then, Logan Keith is good if it's a boy."

"Logan?" he asked, glancing back up to meet her eyes and quirking an eyebrow in mock concern, "Don't you think that name is cursed enough with me holding it?"

She grinned at him. "If it's a girl, I would say Lilly. But Duncan already used it for his daughter."

Logan shrugged and looked away. "We've got time."

Her mouth tightened. "There's something you're not telling me."

"Nothing you need to know right now."

"Logan-"

A nurse walked in, interrupting their conversation. Logan was relieved as he knew it wasn't going anywhere good. She routinely checked all of Veronica's vital signs before administering a shot and taking what seemed like the hundred thousandth tube of Veronica's blood to test since she had gotten there. Logan looked away when she did that, squeamish at the sight of his wife's precious blood being taken from her already pale body.

Once the nurse had gone, Logan blurted, "Duncan stole the tape." He knew that bit of information would spark her interest back into the investigation and away from getting angry with him.

"He did?" She sounded surprised. "Look, I ran a check up on the adoption agency and they have an office located in this city. I also hacked into all the current adoptive parents scheduled to pick up their child within the last week up to two weeks from now. Only three babies matched the age and gender of Lilly. I have them and the hotels they are staying at on my laptop. I want you to go and check up on all of them to see if one of the babies is really Lilly. As for Duncan, I think it'd be a better idea for you to check into a hotel and move our things there."

The command washed Logan in relief. He had been afraid she would ask him to stay at the house to spy on Duncan. Of course, it wasn't as if he would normally take an order either way, but there was really no way he could tell her no in her current condition. Unfortunately for him, she probably knew that.

Logan left his wife's bedside only after triple-checking that she was safe and the nurse's urging that his wife needed rest. When went back to Duncan's, he found his old friend huddled in a corner of his room, rocking back and forth and whispering. It was arguably the most disturbing sight that Logan had ever seen.

"Duncan?" He approached him slowly and carefully.

"I didn't do it! I didn't do it, man! I didn't do it! I swear! I didn't kill her! There were people and voices and... and don't know but I didn't do it! I was, I was just… I was-"

Logan put a hand on Duncan's shoulder to steady him. "Who are you talking about? Lilly? Or Veronica?"

"I could never kill Veronica! I didn't do it! Oh God, she's dead!" He wailed and Logan saw the gun that Duncan was holding with trembling hands.

"Veronica's not dead. She's alive… she's alive." Duncan looked up at him as if in disbelief and glanced down at the semi-automatic gun he held in his shaky hands.

"Does she think I tried to kill her?" The question came out as a loud whisper, but it resounded in the small room.

Logan held his hand out and let familiar words slip over his tongue in an effort to ensure Duncan not shoot. "Give me the gun."

Duncan only stared at the firearm with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Think of your daughter," Logan coaxed, inching closer.

Duncan began to cry again. "I'm so confused!" He clutched the gun tighter. "I want her back!"

Logan still had no idea whether he was talking about Lilly or Veronica. He didn't bother reiterating his question and instead, reached out for the gun.

Duncan's voice raised to a scream. The full force of his words were directed at Logan. "I want her back!!!" He jerked the gun and slammed it against the side of the dresser beside him in his apparent delirium.

The gun fired.


	7. Silence

The blonde laid in the hospital bed unconscious as the heart monitor steadily beeped beside her. Keith stood farther off to the other side of the room staring at her, his emotions too complicated and confused for even he to make any sense what so ever out off. The annoying beeping continued as his headache worsened. It had been three days since Lianne had been found almost dead laying inside a dumpster on a back alley near the Camelot.

The doctors had attributed it to a drug overdose. While Keith had been quite aware that she was an alcoholic, he had never been aware or even suspected any type of drug problem. In fact, Lianne had always been a needle phobic, so all the needle holes in her arms just didn't seem to add up to him. He wanted nothing more to do with her, yet still felt as if he had to get to the bottom of this. Of _everything_ she had been doing lately that made no sense.

_And of all people to have found her, why did it have to be Weevil? Of course, I'll need to question him first…as soon as I can track him down. _

He paced a bit around the room before finally leaving frustrated and unsure of why he even came.

Logan couldn't believe what was happening. Duncan whacked the semi automatic he was holing hard against the dresser in what he could only tell to be a delirious rage…that was for some reason partially directed at him. The gun went off and he had heard the shot fire…and sitting not a foot away from him was a sight that he could not process.

Duncan couldn't be dead. It just couldn't happen. Logan didn't understand…didn't want to understand. And yet Duncan was still sitting there…crunched up in the corner with a small hole in the side of his head from where the bullet had entered his brain. A small amount of blood streaming down the side of his neck. Duncan's eyes were still open and seemed to look back at Logan holding almost as much shock as Logan's eyes did while staring back into them.

The light faded. Logan didn't know what to do. He couldn't call the police or he and Veronica would inevitably be arrested for helping him kidnap Lilly and may even be suspected of his death and his daughter's disappearance. Veronica was in no condition to be put through something like that and live through it…especially with the baby still at high risk. He had to get out of there. Now. And make sure there was absolutely no hints at them ever being there either.

_How would Veronica go about this?_

He quickly packed their things, washed all the sheets she had bled on, made the bed and looked to be sure no hair or anything that could be used to get DNA was left behind before rushing out. He did as Veronica said and checked them into a local hotel…under a pseudo name he had made up on the spot, Watson. Of course that wasn't so creative as it was just the name of a street he had passed on the way there.

But what could he do? He wasn't a PI and he wasn't Veronica. Skills like she had and like he really needed at the moment were simply not something he possessed. But he had learned a few tricks from her, and he prayed to whatever God was up there to let that be enough.

A large part of him was still in shock. Duncan had been his best friend for a long time back in high school. He had been his roommate, Lilly's brother, even Veronica's boyfriend for while and her first. How could this have happened? How was Veronica going to take it? What had so obviously driven him to be delusional? And where _was_ his daughter…if she was even still alive. Logan was beginning to wonder judging from the way Duncan had been acting lately. If he could try to smother Veronica…the girl he was still in love with, although it was much to Logan's discomfort to admit, how easy would it have been for him to kill a baby?

It was too much for him to take in at once, but there it was. He didn't know what to do, what to say, what to tell his wife. So he didn't do anything…at all. Except for unpack their things into the new hotel room and drink…a lot. He didn't go in to see Veronica for two days. He knew he should…but seeing her…telling her would make it real, and Duncan's death couldn't be real. Even if it was, he couldn't see what look would cross her face at the words that still seemed too hollow to be real for him.

When he finally gathered up enough nerve to go to Veronica…and sobered up enough to do so without her becoming angrier at him than she already would be she was what could be termed as a nervous wreck. He wasn't sure if that played any part in her looking just as bad as the last time he saw her or not. But he was already feeling too sick inside to let guilt creep in and make it worse. He remained silent as he went into her room and sat on the side of her bed.

At first she was angry, understandably, but Logan didn't know how to deal with it at the moment. "Logan? Where have you been?" But then she saw the look he held into his eye and her question changed. "Logan, what's wrong?" Veronica's voice was firm and demanding.

He looked around to make sure no nurses or anyone else was in earshot before he told her. They both were holding back from crying by the time he finished. She questioned what he did to erase any evidence of their presence and several other questions, some that he couldn't see had anything to do with it at all.

"We have to leave, Veronica. We have to get out of here before someone finds him in that house."

"They told me I could only be moved in an ambulance. That won't get me back to the U.S. There's records of me staying at this hospital. It's two miles from Duncan's house. If they find him, we'll be arrested for too many charges to count."

"Should I do something with his body?"

She shook her head. "The way you described it, it sounds like it would have been believable that he had been alone when he died…if no one finds out we are here that is. But if you tamper with the body that u'll just put them right on our trail and make them think you killed him instead of it being accidental. But we have to hurry and figure this thing out and get out of here soon."

"What do you think happened to Lilly?"

"I asked a nurse about the medication Duncan was taken. The bottle said it was some light medicine for depression, but the pill I stole from inside it wasn't for that…it was for chemical in balances in schizophrenics that had been discontinued because it could cause the hallucinations to get worse instead of better."

"Why would he be taking that?"

"He wouldn't be."

The thought scared her and she desperately wanted to change the subject. She leaned forward and hugged Logan for a moment in effort to feel some kind of comfort.

"Are you ok?" Logan looked at her, his head finally coming back to him after taking comfort in the way she had dealt with the news and knowing that they were at least in this together.

She looked at him shyly and smiled before sitting up slowly and hugging him. He didn't go back to the hotel that night. For a while he laid scrunched up beside her on the narrow hospital bed until she fell asleep just because they were both so scared and upset and needed contact. But after she fell asleep again and he heard what he thought was a nurse coming in to check her blood pressure, he moved to the very uncomfortable chair that sat close by.


	8. AntiChrist

Someone was stroking her face. She assumed it was Logan. Fingers brushed over her cheek and then left before his lips where next to her ear, whispering almost too softly for her to hear. "I can't wait for them to crucify you."

She struggled against drowsiness in order to identify the figure, but the nurses had given her too many meds and sleep overcame her.

_There was a dark, shadowed person standing over her. It wasn't Logan. Everything seemed surreal. She had no idea whether or not she was even awake. _

_Duncan stood in the corner muttering to himself, "This isn't happening. This isn't happening, you aren't real. You can't hurt anyone. I'm just hallucinating. This isn't happening. Go away." His eyes were pressed tightly shut. _

_Veronica couldn't move. Her body was too weak. It was like she was still trying to wake up from being put under. The shadowy man put a finger to her lips as if to silence her as he gently took a pillow from behind her head and lowered it down over her face. She couldn't breathe. She was suffocating. The world started to fade. Just as soon as she was sure she was dead, Lilly came. _

_"Veronica!" Lilly's excited voice rang out. _

_Veronica turned in surprise, trying desperately to find the girl that belonged to that distinctive voice. _

_"Isn't it funny how things work out? Duncan's been freaking since he got here." Her eyes widened as she smiled for an extra dramatic effect. _

_"Where's Lilly? Or, I mean-"_

_"Chill, girl, I know, there are a lot of Lillies around." She took in a large breath. "Such a wonderful name." Lilly snuck up behind Veronica even though the slueth was constantly twisting and turning around in an attempt to see her friend as well as hear her. Veronica felt a freezing cold hand on her shoulder and heard Lilly laugh when her body flinched. _

_"Oh you should know how it goes by now, girl! I wish I could tell you. But, I do have a message from my dear, dear brother."_

_Veronica waited. _

_"He's sorry. And…" she paused for more of her signature Lilly drama "Don't do what you're thinking. Whatever that's supposed to mean. Jeez! My brother is such a dork. Too bad you weren't my sister, then I'd have at least one cool sibling." _

_"I miss you. Tell Duncan-"_

_"Why should I tell him? You can do that yourself as soon as he gets up the spine to come visit you!" She stood directly behind Veronica and whispered close into her ear. "And you seriously need a tan." _

_Veronica's lips parted to speak but she wasn't sure what to say. As she decided on a reply, she realized she had woken up and Lilly was gone. _

She looked over to where Logan sat slumped over in his chair. Everything in the world was wrong, but for some reason at that moment she felt totally at peace. She ran her hand over her stitched together belly, trying to feel some movement from her baby, from Logan's baby growing inside her. She knew it was too early to feel the baby kick, but she still tried.

She must have dozed off because the next time she looked over at Logan's chair, he was gone. She felt oddly bereft without him watching over her, and was momentarily afraid he'd pulled another disappearing act on her.

She left that thought and began to go over every possible scenario to deal with Lilly's disappearance and Duncan's sudden death. Every plan she tried to form had a hitch. There was no way she could leave due to her physical limitations, and even if she could, she wasn't about to leave Lilly's disappearance at loose ends. She ran her hand over her belly once more, worrying about both babies and fearful that the fate of each was out of her hands.

In the meantime, Logan had taken the list of possible adoptive families Veronica had asked him to take care of days ago and began going from hotel to hotel. The first family was English and already had their baby. Their Asian baby. The second family on the list also already had their baby. Logan pretended he was locked out of his own room in their hotel and needed to use their phone to call the front desk. He knocked on the door.

A man with red hair answered the door.

"Hi. My girlfriend and I accidentally got locked out of our room and I was hoping I could use your phone?"

"You'll go to hell for doing that before you're married," the man barked. "I will not expose my family to an antichrist!" The man shoved a pocket-sized bible at Logan and then slammed the door in his face.

Baffled, he left to try the last family that actually lived in the city. They were not at home. He was contemplating his next move when his cell phone rang.

"You're confused, aren't you?" It was a male voice, but Logan had absolutely no idea of who it belonged to and didn't recognize the number.

"Who's this?"

"I know he's dead. Good job by the way. I knew you and Veronica wouldn't be able to figure it out. But the fact that you're gonna take the fall for his death and your pretty little pregnant girlfriend for his daughter's kidnapping was more than I could hope for. Thanks." He hung up before Logan could say a word.

Logan rushed back to the hospital where Veronica was sleeping. He felt bad about waking her, but he knew she'd want him to. After he explained, she seized his cell phone. She frowned once she found that it was an untraceable number.

"He must be some sort of professional. He knows what he's doing."

"Veronica, we have to get out of here. I-"

The doctor walked in before he could finish. "I don't think so, young man. Your pretty wife has got at least another few day's worth of observation before she can go anywhere. And I hope you don't forget about what I told you, Mrs. Echolls. It's strict bed rest in a hospital until you deliver."

They both looked at him wide eyed. He tried to soften his tone, reminding himself that as young as they were, they were adults and not his children to command. "But I have contacted a few friends of mine. A fellow doctor whom I trust, that is heading back to the U.S. next Wednesday on his private plane has agreed to fly you both back if you like. I'll sign off on it."

"Thank you!" Veronica was ecstatic. They were going home. That gave them five days to find Lilly and figure out who was drugging Duncan and why. But Veronica thought she already knew.

I'm pretty sure it was a hired professional doing all the dirty work. That means someone had to have hired him. Someone with motive and money. That pretty much just leaves the Mannings. Of course, they wouldn't order Duncan's assassination. But Duncan's a big guy, the pro would have to have planned something to ensure it didn't turn ugly. Possibly drugging him until he was out of his mind.

Duncan wouldn't be able to do much of anything aboveboard to track Lilly down and get her back once who ever they hired got her. The only thing anyone in his position could do would be to call me….and that would be exactly what anyone who knows him would expect him to do…making it pretty easy to implicate me in Lilly's abduction. And, I have too many enemies to count. Shit.


	9. The Thompsons

Author's note: Ok, I know it took me forever to get this chap posted, so sorry! Usually I post once every or every other day on a long story like this but my college finals got in the way and then I started having computer problems too, but anyways, here it is, hope you enjoy and please remember to review!

"_Logan." Veronica reached out her hand to find her husband's in the dark. She was still half asleep, so she didn't open her eyes. She just wanted the warmth and assurance of the touch of his hand. _

_Finally her hand found his. Except it didn't feel like Logan's big, soft hand; it felt like a leather glove. Her eyes snapped open to find the hand she was holding was indeed covered in a black leather glove. Her eyes followed the arm up from the hand to a familiar face and nearly jumped out of her hospital bed. The man sat in Logan's chair, staring at her. An evil grin nearly split his face in two. _

"_I wouldn't worry so much about Lilly. I'd worry more about yourself," the man said quietly as he stood and pushed a pillow over her face once more._

She bolted awake into a sitting position and felt her stitches strain at the sudden movement. "Logan!" The loud plea escaped her mouth before she even thought it.

He woke from his uncomfortable seat beside her and looked up, his eyes bleary with sleep. "Huh?"

She laid back down, relieved. "Nothing."

They were leaving tomorrow. Every lead they had followed so far had been a dead end. Keith's search into the Manning's recent contacts had been inconclusive. It seemed that Veronica had little left to investigate. There was one last lead left untapped.

"Logan, can you call the couple that threw you out the other day? The Jessups? Tell them that you're from the adoption agency and that there has been a mix up in their paper work that needs to be taken care of right away. Ask them to come to this hospital to get it straightened out and to bring the adopted child with them."

"Yeah. Veronica, I need to ask you something. What are we gonna do with Lilly if we find her? We can't just take her with us. And even if we could-"

"I don't know. We can cross that bridge when we come to it."

Logan made the call. When he returned to his wife, his expression was slightly disgusted. "That man did not sound happy."

"Is he coming?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then, since he'd recognize you, I just want you to see if you can spot them and get a good look at the baby. If it's Lilly, call me and I'll tell you the plan."

Logan shook his head with a smile. "Confined to a hospital bed and still acting all covert ops. I think that's one of the sexiest things about you."

"Well, wait 'til I show you my stomach after all this and then we'll see how sexy you still think I am." Veronica was half-joking, and he recognized the twinge of self-deprecation in her voice.

"Veronica, I don't think you fully realize something about me. I'm in love with you. You could turn into the most unattractive woman in the world and I'd still think you were beautiful." He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her lips. "But just to let you know, you still look hot, even with all the needles and the tubes."

When Veronica finally smiled, Logan walked out of the room and headed for the main entrance. Sure enough, the Jessups had already arrived.

Logan tried to get close enough to see the baby but stay far enough out of the way so Mr. Jessup couldn't see him. When he finally managed to get a long look at the baby, what he saw shocked him. It wasn't Lilly.

Logan went back to Veronica's room in dismay. He had been sure that the Jessups had Lilly. Now he and Veronica only had one more family they could check before they were back to square one. Veronica didn't seem perturbed by the situation. She just told Logan to wait until the Jessups left and then instructed him to call the last family, the Thompsons, and give them the same story.

Logan almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that not only was Mrs. Thompson holding Lilly in her arms, but it was the same woman who had helped him with his luggage at the airport. He quickly pulled out his cell phone and called Veronica to explain the situation.

"Okay. New plan then. Just walk up to her and tell her that it was really us who called them, apologize, and ask them to come up to my room for a minute so I can see my dear beloved little niece one last time before we leave the country."

"What?"

"Did they seem like good, reasonable people?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Then just do it!"

"Okay." He hung up the phone and walked towards the family. The boy wasn't there, but the woman and her husband were.

"Hi," Logan began, embarrassed.

"Oh, hello!" The woman greeted Logan warmly but she was obviously surprised. She turned to her husband. "This is that sweet boy I met at the airport!" The man smiled and shook his hand.

"Is it your wife that's here?" the woman asked quietly.

"Yeah. Look, to be honest, it wasn't the adoption agency who called you. It was me." The couple seemed taken aback. "My wife's sister died and that's why they had to put little-"

When Logan fumbled for her name, Mrs. Thompson supplied it. "Rebecca."

"Right, Rebecca up for adoption. My wife has just been really upset about the whole thing lately and I'm worried about her. I was kind of hoping that you wouldn't mind just going up to talk to her for a minute to let her see Rebecca one last time? It'd make her feel much better, I'm sure."

Mr. Thompson answered, "Of course we don't mind. You know, we asked if there was any family who might ever want to stay in touch, but the whole thing really seemed disorganized. The agency said they were having computer problems. In fact, they were really quite reluctant to talk about much of anything."

Logan smiled at the Thompsons and lead them up to Veronica's room.

Mrs. Thompson walked right past Logan and hugged Veronica as if she'd known the younger girl for years. Veronica was a bit thrown off but played along.

"Honey, these are the Thompsons. They adopted little Rebecca."

Veronica smiled. "Thank you so much for coming. I just couldn't bare not meeting the parents who are going to raise my little niece."

Mrs. Thompson patted Veronica's hand reassuringly and cooed, "Oh, no, sweetie. We don't blame you at all. In fact, we are just fed up with that agency for not giving us your number in the first place. I can't imagine how worried you must have been not knowing what kind of people she had been given to."

"Yeah and the adoption agency seemed somewhat extreme with their methods and ideas of parenting."

Mr. Thompson laughed whole-heartedly. "You know, I've been telling my wife that for months. When we first started reading up everything on them, it almost scared us off but then we decided that since it's the closest agency to where we live, it would be better to just use them." He playfully slapped a hand over Logan's shoulder. "But don't worry, we sure aren't crazy like that." He laughed loudly again. It reminded Logan of a jolly fat uncle he'd once met.

Mrs. Thompson sat down in the chair next to Veronica's bed. "No, of course not. We are Christians, but as far as all the tough-love discipline goes, we just prefer to try to raise our children in a way so that they would be happy enough not to do anything wrong in the first place."

Logan decided he should break in. "Veronica, honey, these are the people I told you about from the airport. She's the one that helped me with the bags."

Veronica smiled at her. "Oh, thank you! That's a little embarrassing."

"Oh, no, sweetie. You know, I was just telling Fred here the other day how sweet of a couple you looked. And that poor husband trying to carry you and the luggage. It's a wonder he didn't just rent a cart." She chuckled and Logan froze at the realization that he could have and how much trouble that would have saved him. He couldn't help but laugh.

The Thompsons stayed for over three hours discussing Lilly, or Rebecca, and how they intended to raise her. Neither Logan nor Veronica could find one thing to object to. It was a silent realization on both their parts that, though they had both assumed they would get Lilly away from them and find something better to do with her, leaving her with her new family was obviously the best arrangement.

Before they left, Mrs. Thompson gave Veronica all of their phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and their home address. "Please call or write or come visit anytime you two want," she offered. "I was adopted when I was a baby, too, so I know how important it is or will be for Rebecca to have someone from her birth family to talk to when she's older. We want both of you to be a part of her life."

"Thank you," Logan said warmly before both the Thompson's hugged him on the way out. "You have no idea how much it means to us." They said their goodbyes and left the younger couple alone. Logan sat down next to Veronica.

"You're getting good at acting, Logan. I almost believed that you wanted to hug them."

"I almost did, I was so relieved. So we're leaving her with them, right?"

"I don't think we could find any better for her ourselves. We just got real lucky that that part of the problem solved itself. At least we don't have to worry about Lill- I mean Rebecca anymore. Now onto the rest of our problem."


	10. All the evidence you need

Veronica and Logan boarded the private jet at eleven o'clock the following morning. An ambulance had been arranged to transport Veronica from the hospital to the plane and the doctor and owner of the plane were there waiting to her get her settled. Veronica, though glad to be going home, was bitterly disappointed at the fact that she hadn't solved the case before she had to leave.

"So you're the special little lady Dr. Dunlop has been telling me about?" The doctor's friend gave her a kindly smile and patted her on the shoulder.

Logan eyed the ancient doctor's wrinkled face worriedly. "You're Dr. Weissman?"

The old man chuckled. "Yes, son. Dr.Dunlop is my son's best friend. I'm retired now, but I used to be one of the highest ranked specialists in your wife's problem area, so I think we'll be able to get her home just fine."

He arranged her IV and checked her over once for himself before he allowed his pilot to have the plane take off.

"Four months pregnant?" He asked arbitrarily while performing the check up.

"In a week," Veronica answered, a little surprised by the doctor's observation.

Logan sat down on a seat near the long padded bench they had Veronica laying down on. The plane took off and for the first four hours, all three sat and merely talked. Logan nodded off somewhere over the Pacific.

When he woke, Veronica was fast asleep and Dr. Weissman was nowhere to be found. Logan wrote it off, figuring the doctor was probably in the bathroom or the cockpit. His suspicion was confirmed when the man returned and sat down next to Logan. Logan stood, stretching the stiffness out of his joints and walked over to the bathroom himself. He nearly had a heart attack when Duncan's stiff body tumbled out on top of him. He shouted and turned back to Dr. Weissman, wide-eyed, before he had the chance for any logical thought process.

Dr. Weissman remained deadly calm as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. He pulled a needle and syringe from his jacket pocket, held it to Veronica's neck and took a picture of Duncan's corpse at Logan's feet with the other. When he addressed Logan, his voice had an eerie quality to it. "Here's the deal. She isn't waking up any time soon. So it'll just be you and me. When you get off of this plane, you will take that corpse with you and get rid of it yourself. My pilot and I had no idea you smuggled it unto the plane until it just fell out now and we're horrified. You will take the fall for this, understand?"

Logan nodded, nervous about the needle pressed to his wife's pale throat.

The man proceeded to inject her with it's continents before Logan could do a thing. "Don't worry. This is just to ensure she stays asleep. Crafty little bugger, this one, from what I hear. Wouldn't want her to mess up anything. No, I'd much rather deal with you."

"You kidnapped Lilly and drugged Duncan?"

"No, my friend. You did. Or, at least you helped Veronica kidnap her when she realized she might lose her own baby. And, poor Duncan, well you just had to kill him yourself when he figured out what the two of you were doing. Plus, I suppose you didn't really mind shooting him anyway when you realized the affair your wife was having with him." He laid the camera down beside Veronica on the bench near his lap.

Logan managed to shove Duncan back into the restroom and he shut the door. He rushed back to Veronica and ran his hands over her still form, looking for her vital signs. When he felt her pulse, steady and strong, he returned his gaze to Weissman.

"So, here's what we're going to do..." The man, who Logan doubted was even the real Dr. Weissman, proceeded to give Logan detailed instructions on what Logan was to do once he got off the plane and how he was going to let himself and Veronica be framed for Duncan's death and for Lilly's second kidnapping and disappearance and then admit to her accidental death.

Logan couldn't do anything but sit there and listen, wondering if any amount of lawyers in the world could possibly get them out of this and fearing that his baby was going to be born behind bars. They landed in the private airport closest to Neptune hours later as expected.

The only thing that "Dr. Weissman" wasn't expecting was the SWAT team ready to arrest him and the pilot upon landing.

Later, when the police were questioning Veronica about why Duncan's body was found on board, Veronica produced a small memory card from her pocket. "This should contain all the evidence you need."

Logan and Veronica stuck to their story that they'd been vacationing in Australia and didn't know of Duncan's death or his whereabouts until they got on the plane. Veronica figured out that the man pretending to be Dr. Weissman was really Duncan's killer as well as the man who'd harassed them at the hospital when he didn't perform her check-up correctly. Besides, his fake skin had been chaffing off around the ears.

"When I investigated the contents of his bag I found evidence to support my theory and called my dad on the plane's phone." The police seemed to buy it for the moment.

When they finally got her back to Neptune's local hospital, neither Logan nor Keith could resist the urge to ask the real details of how she pulled it off. She just smiled and explained as if it were child's play.

"I noticed that he was wearing fake skin. It was coming off around the ears and I knew he wasn't the doctor. So when I saw the full syringes of whatever that clear stuff was, I waited until he went to talk to the pilot and emptied three of them, replacing them with water. I didn't have time to look at his digital camera, so I just took out the memory card. Then I hid the other needle with the real stuff in it behind my back." She pulled it out of her pocket. "Here it is. You think you can find out what's in there?" She handed it to her father.

Keith took it with a grin, wondering whether his daughter was actually better at his job than him. "Well, legally we're going to be in for a bumpy ride with all this. But for right now, I'm just glad both of you are okay. But Veronica, honey, there is something I need to tell you about your mother."


	11. Lilly Lynn

Keith discovered that the liquid contained in the needle Veronica managed to get to him was a strong sedative that pregnant women were not supposed to take. Veronica had been transferred to the safety of the local hospital where she would spend the remaining five months of her pregnancy bored out of her mind. Keith had managed to stall a few days before telling Veronica the news about her mother. The problem was that it was dangerous for her to get to upset or stressed out and she had already been put through way too much lately. He attempted to tell her a few times, but always ended up losing his nerve. One day he got the unexpected news that Lianne had woken and walked out without doing any paperwork or paying. He had no desire to track her down, and since she wasn't practically dead anymore, he saw no reason to tell Veronica after all. 

The months passed by more or less uneventfully. Certainly nothing crime related got any closer to being completely solved and neither did Lianne's strange actions. Veronica stayed in the hospital indescribably bored and driving both Logan and her father crazy for another four and a half months. Then finally one night something worth mentioning happened.

It was raining outside. Veronica was watching it pour through the window beside her bed as Logan lay asleep on the narrow strip of available space beside her. The baby had settled down and seemed to sleep inside of her as she rubbed her hands over her belly contently. She was in a good mood and the rain was soothing; Veronica couldn't remember the last time she had felt so relaxed. It was pitch black outside and around eleven pm when the pains started kicking in. It was two weeks early, but Veronica wasn't really surprised. She was mostly just happy she had kept her in this long. Carrying her this long, Veronica had learned two things about her baby. She was going to be as impatient as her mother and aggressive as her father. Veronica wasn't surprised the baby wanted to hurry up and get out of her mother.

At first she didn't do anything about it, just bore the pains when they came and savored the last moments of having her baby inside her. After a while however, she nudged Logan gently awake and put his hand to her belly while she was having a contraction so he would get the picture. For a moment he just froze and stared at her, his eyes getting bigger by the second while she remained unusually calm and smiled at him.

He kissed his wife thinking this was one of the best moments he had ever had. "I'll go get the doctor," Logan said softly and left. While he was looking, he also went ahead and called Keith, knowing how dead he would be if Keith missed the excitement for not knowing in time.

The labor didn't last long, the baby was born only an hour and a half after the initial pains started kicking in. Logan stayed in the room with Veronica, even as she came close to breaking his hand from squeezing it so hard and yelling out every imaginable curse at him she could think off in the most painful moments. He only smiled at her, angering her more, though they both knew her rancor would go away the second they got to see the baby.

It was a girl, which they had known for a while. A little tiny wriggly pink one that had Logan's eyes and a little wisp of Veronica's blonde hair….and amazing vocal ability. She came into the world screaming and didn't quiet down for a several minutes. They handed her to Logan as Veronica started hemorrhaging and they had to do a procedure on her to make it stop. It had been expected, so Logan wasn't to terrified as they rushed her out, but he did make sure to hold the baby up so she could see her before she was put under. It wasn't an uncommon procedure, but Logan still worried as he took the baby out to her grandpa for him to see and to tell him the update on Veronica.

Keith took her carefully from Logan and stared at her. Logan let him hold her for a while, though he really wanted to get to hold of her again himself and at the moment, Keith had held her longer than him.

"I'm a grandpa." He finally said in an astonished voice as he gave her back to Logan.

She wriggled around a bit and took hold of one of his fingers. She had tiny feet like her mother and stared at Logan intently. He had never felt so strange before in his life.

About an hour later, a nurse came out to tell them that Veronica was fine and in recovery. Logan took the baby in to see her and when they got there, she had already woken up and was holding out her hands for Logan to give the baby to her. He grinned as he handed his daughter to his wife.

"Hey there Lilly," she cooed, smiling uncontrollably. Logan sat down beside her and took hold of her little fist. "She's okay, right?" Veronica asked nervously.

Logan nodded. "Seven pounds. They said she was just fine. What's her middle name?"

They had settled on "Lilly" together but never really could agree on a middle name.

"Lynn. Lilly Lynn is a cute name. Don't you think?"

Logan smiled in response. He appreciated the use of his mother's name. "Lilly Lynn Echolls. Yep, I like it. Let's just hope she doesn't get in as much trouble as her namesakes."

Veronica let out a laugh. "Logan, she's our daughter. You know that, right?"

"Oh God, you're right. This kid's in for it." He bent down closer to the baby. By this time, he was no longer holding her hand but she had one of his fingers in her grasp. "You're gonna be trouble, aren't you?"

Veronica turned to Logan and kissed him chastely on the cheek. "She's so cute. She looks just like you."

Logan turned to his wife seriously. "You know they said you shouldn't have anymore right?"

She nodded solemnly. "They told me."

"I'm going to spoil you rotten. And I'm not going to screw you up, I promise." Logan said, turning his attention back to Lilly.

Veronica smiled. "You're gonna be a good dad."


	12. Chapter 12

Hi, Junebug18 won't be finishing this or any other story. I'm just getting around to posting this now but she past away a few weeks ago from heart failure. So, yeah...she won't be writing anymore. I'm just putting this up cause she told me she thought it was rude it leave stories unfinished forever with no explaination or anything and I didn't want anyone to think that she was just rude or slow or something. I know no one cares about the writers' personal lives, but just for the record, my sister was a really good person. I wish I was more like her.

And I know that this is a really weird request, but I was kinda hoping that maybe someone could finish this story for her. I would but I'm sucky writer and I want her story be finished by someone who could do it justice. I know some of what she was gonna have happen. PM me if someone could do it. Thanks. -Nadirah

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